Если погода испортится, мы быстро уберём вещи под навес и сядем в машину.

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Breakdown of Если погода испортится, мы быстро уберём вещи под навес и сядем в машину.

• и: and
• если: if
• погода: the weather

Questions & Answers about Если погода испортится, мы быстро уберём вещи под навес и сядем в машину.

Why is испортится used after если? Shouldn’t Russian use a present tense after if, like English often does?

This is a very common point of confusion.

In Russian, after если for a real future condition, you often use a perfective verb form that looks like present tense, but because perfective verbs do not have a true present tense, it actually refers to the future.

So:

• если погода испортится = if the weather gets bad / if the weather turns bad

Here испортится is perfective, so it focuses on the moment of change.

Compare:

• если погода портится = if the weather is getting worse / gets bad in a more general or habitual sense
• если погода испортится = if the weather does become bad on this specific occasion

So this structure is completely normal Russian.

What does испортится literally mean, and why does it have -ся?